1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to plumbing, and more particularly, to cleaning and inspecting roof vents and other plumbing pipes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern plumbing systems in residential and commercial structures are generally entirely gravity driven on the drain side of the equation. For water to quickly drain out of the bottom of the system, for example into a sewer or septic system, a vent must allow air into the pipes above the drain.
Vents are commonly vertical pipes that traverse a structure from the pipes in the walls or under the floors up through the roof.
Vent pipes, sometimes referred to as vent stacks, conveniently provide a point of access into the plumbing system for inspection, repair and, most commonly, clean out.
It is common practice for plumbers to insert long wire snakes into roof vents that travel down the vent then into the drain pipes inside or under the structure. The snakes can break up an obstruction so it can be flushed out or can attach to a clog to pull it back up the stack.
More recently, as an alternative to metal snakes, a high pressure water jet hose can be fed down the stack to free a clog in a pipe.
In some cases video inspection cameras can be fed down a vent pipe on a long signal cable to get an improved diagnosis of the conditions and problems inside of a pipe.
Several designs for roof vent pipe cleaning and inspection tools have been designed in the past. None of them, however, includes a device that can be operated from the ground to attach onto a roof vent stack and effectively clean out and inspect the pipe without a person ever getting onto the roof of the structure.
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to commonly used wire cleanout snakes, brushes, high pressure water washers and the like. A plumber must climb the roof to access the roof vent (or other plumbing structure to be examined or cleared). Heavy equipment, such as a snake reel with motor, must be up and carried onto the roof with them.
This creates a potentially dangerous situation involving personnel climbing a latter. The equipment that the plumber will use must be carried up the ladder or hoisted from the roof. Either situation carries with it risk for both the plumber on the roof and other people on the ground below.
A wire snake assembly with motor can weigh eighty pounds or more. In some cases with extended runs of snake the entire apparatus could weigh well over a hundred pounds. This is a significant amount for one man to carry up a ladder onto the roof.
Further, damage can result from a plumber on the roof damaging the roof itself or injuring himself by stepping through soft or damaged roofing structure when carrying heavy equipment.
Many injuries happen annually in the United States to plumbers and other tradesman falling off from roofs. It would greatly increase safety and decrease risk of injury to man and machine by avoiding placing either on a roof.
Other solutions have included boom and bucket trucks. In this solution a bucket truck must physically be positioned at the base of the structure and within reach of the area on the roof which requires attention. The boom has a limited range of reach. The truck can damage sensitive landscaping or other elements. The boom trucks are expensive and also require a skilled operator to work safely.
Yet others may use scaffolding or climbing harnesses. Each is expensive and potentially dangerous. Special training and skill is usually required to use either of these methods safely.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter and commonly used techniques provide for a number of more or less complicated features and methods that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.